Colony Wars

"Colony Wars is an excellent 3-D space shooter in all aspects, and well worth the time."

Long into the future, an overpopulated Earth forms an oppressive galaxy-spanning empire. On a far-off colony, the League of Free Worlds begins a campaign to bring freedom to the galaxy. You are a pilot in the League fleet. The story unfolds from there, with several story paths and endings depending upon which missions you pass or fail. You pilot a variety of space fighter craft and are given mission objectives ranging from dogfighting and fleet assault to convoy defense, raids, and pathfinding. There are a lot of (over 50) short missions, but they are interwoven into several storylines, so you have to play through the game several times in order to see every mission and every FMV clip. The graphics are great--complete freedom of spaceflight, nicely detailed ships, and cool space and planet backdrops. Audio is top-notch, with a good orchestral track and Surround Sound support for sound effects. The mission briefings are voice and text, and there's a great database (with voice-overs) covering all planetary systems, vessels, and galaxy history. The databases are extensive and worth a look, and really serve to further the story lines. In short, graphics, sound, and gameplay are integrated to produce an immersive game full of depth. Playing through all the scenarios leaves you wanting more.

The control is good, but a dual analog or dual shock controller is highly recommended. There are several control options, but a fully configurable control would have been appreciated. Players may initially have problems with orienting a craft in 3-D space because the ships have no "auto-up" function. The fleets battle in three dimensions, and the radar is not much help, so you may have to spend a few moments becoming familiar with piloting. There is also a good training mode that quickly helps overcome this problem.

Overall, Colony Wars is a game well worth its purchase price. Psygnosis clearly put in a lot of time and energy and produced an involved experience.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99